Furfuryl ethyl ether (FEE) is a bio-based transportation fuel component and an important blend in gasoline. FEE has superior anti-knock quality to the reference Euro95 gasoline. Furfuryl ethyl ether is an important flavor compound indicative of beer storage and aging conditions. Furfuryl alcohol found to be best platform molecule for the synthesis of FEE. Mild acidic conditions are responsible for conversion of furfuryl alcohol to FEE. Powdered ZSM-5 catalyst (SiO2/Al2O3=30) operating at 125° C. in a 7.5:1 molar mixture of EtOH: FAlc, furfuryl ethyl ether was formed with a maximum yield of 50 mol % yield at ˜80% conversion. Other zeolites, e.g. with H-ZSM-12 and -23, H-β (SiO2-bound), H-Y, H-Mordenite and H-Ferrierite, showed significantly lower yields towards FEE. Mesoporous silica material like, SBA-15 having large pore size, high surface area, hexagonally ordered structure, thick pore wall, and remarkable hydrothermal stability and more importantly, easy preparation protocol, becomes the choice of preference.
US2011035991 discloses a gasoline composition containing in the range of from 0.1 to 30 wt % alkylfurfuryl ether with an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms is provided. The gasoline composition is prepared by blending the alkylfurfuryl ether in a gasoline base fuel. The alkylfurfuryl ether is prepared by reacting an alkyl alcohol having in the range of 1 to 4 carbon atoms is reacted with furfuryl alcohol by contacting a liquid phase comprising the alkyl alcohol and furfuryl alcohol with an acidic zeolite catalyst at a temperature in the range of from 50 to 200° C. This document further discloses use of ZSM-5 for synthesis of FEE got 80 to 95% conversion of Furfuryl alcohol but the yield of FEE is less i. e 27%. Yield of Furfuryl alcohol condensation product is 27% which is due to presence of Bronsted acidity in ZSM-5 catalyst.
Article titled “The effect of oxide acidity on HMF etherification” by J Luo et al. published in Catal. Sci. Technol., 2014, 4, pp 3074-3081 reports liquid-phase (69 bar) reaction of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) with 2-propanol for production of furanyl ethers studied at 413 and 453 K over a series of oxide catalysts, including γ-Al2O3, ZrO2, TiO2, Al2O3/SBA-15, ZrO2/SBA-15, TiO2/SBA-15, H-BEA, and Sn-BEA. The Lewis-acid sites on Sn-BEA were the most active, showing a high selectivity to 2,5-bis[(1-methylethoxy)methyl]furan (BEF) even at low total conversions. Interestingly, ZrO2 and TiO2 on SBA-15 were also quite selective towards formation of BEF, presumably by carrying the MPV interhydride transfer from 2-propanol to the carbonyl of HMF on the Lewis acid sites followed by etherification on the Brønsted acid sites of the catalyst.
Article titled “Zr-SBA-15 Lewis Acid Catalyst: Activity in Meerwein Ponndorf Verley Reduction” by J Iglesias et al. published in Catalysts; 2015, 5(4), pp 1911-1927 reports Zr-SBA-15 Lewis acid catalyst for outstanding catalytic activity in the reduction of several carbonyl compounds by means of Meerwein Ponndorf Verley (MPV) reaction, using several secondary alcohols, and showing a very high selectivity towards the desired products. Special focus was addressed in the catalytic activity of Zr-SBA-15 material in the production of furfuryl alcohol from furfural, which is an important reaction for the lignocellulosic biomass valorization. In this transformation, both the reaction temperature and the i-PrOH:Furfural molar ratio exerts a positive influence on the rate of the MPV transformation, with the influence of the former being much higher.
The prior art suffers from the drawbacks like use of harsh chemicals, lower yield of FEE and lesser conversion of furfuryl alcohol. Therefore, there is need for a simple process for the synthesis of FEE with high yield and which will overcome prior art drawbacks. Accordingly, the present invention provides a single step process for the synthesis of furfuryl ethyl ether from furfuryl alcohol.